WWDC 2011 Highlights: Apple’s Mobile, PC Worlds Converge in iCloud

Apple unleashed a flurry of software news related to its Mac and iOS operating systems during its annual developers conference Monday.

Most significant was the unveiling of iCloud, Apple’s solution for synchronizing content such as photos, music and documents across multiple Apple devices.

iCloud is Apple’s big push into online storage and data synchronization, after its previously failed attempt with MobileMe. CEO Steve Jobs said the company is killing MobileMe, which cost $100 per year, and replacing it with iCloud, a free service for all Apple customers. It will debut with the release of the iOS 5 operating system, due this fall.

Apple also previewed new features in its upcoming Mac operating system, OS X Lion, which is looking more and more like iOS. Click through the photos above to see highlights from Monday’s keynote.

iOS 5

Due for release this fall, Apple's iOS 5 includes 200 new features and 1,500 new APIs. iOS app programmers can grab a beta version of iOS 5 today, according to Jobs.

Cutting the Cord

Good news: That annoying "Connect to iTunes" screen is dead, beginning with iOS 5. Now when you get a brand-new iPad or iPhone, you can set it up and register it without plugging it into a computer.

Wireless Updates

Beginning with iOS 5, customers can wirelessly download and install operating system upgrades right on the device itself, as opposed to plugging into a computer and installing it through iTunes.

Token Search

The upcoming iOS 5 has an improved search tool for digging through e-mails. You can break searches into "tokens." For example: You can combine search tokens “John Doe,” “restaurant” and “Last Month” to find an e-mail you sent to John Doe about a restaurant last month.

Twitter Integration

Coming up in iOS 5 is built-in Twitter integration. You can tweet photos and web articles from the Photos and Safari apps, respectively. Also, you can use Twitter to automatically update the photos in your Contacts list with their avatars.

iMessage

A new messaging app called iMessage debuts in iOS 5. Send a message, photo or video with iMessage on your iPhone, and your conversation is synchronized with the iMessage app on your iPad. iMessage will work over both 3G and Wi-Fi connections.

Notifications Center

Another new feature: iOS 5 introduces a Notifications Center that displays all your new notifications, such as an e-mail or text you recently received, or an alert to tell you it's your turn to make a move in Scrabble. Also, notifications will appear as a less intrusive pop-up on top of the screen, instead of a blue box interrupting you in the middle of the screen.

Photo Stream

The iCloud service has a feature called Photo Stream, which automatically uploads every photo you take to the web. The Photo Stream camera roll immediately synchronizes across your iOS devices, as well as your Mac or Windows PC.

Camera App

In iOS 5, you can press the volume button to snap a photo in the Camera app. The Camera app also contains some basic editing tools, such as redeye removal and automatic image enhancement.

iTunes iCloud

Integration is also coming for iCloud and iTunes music. When you purchase a song through iTunes on one device, you can send it to iCloud and download it on as many as 10 other iOS devices.

As for songs you didn't download through the iTunes Store, you can opt to use a service called iTunes Match, which matches your iTunes library with iTunes, and sends the matched songs to iCloud. The iTunes Match service will cost $25 per year.

Thumb Keyboard

The optional thumb-based keyboard on iOS 5 can work across all typing apps. You can drag up the virtual keyboard, and it splits it into two small keyboards for thumb typing.

LaunchPad

Mac OS X Lion has a new feature called LaunchPad, which enables you to view all your apps in a springboard, similar to the iPad's home screen. To access the LaunchPad, you make a pinch gesture on the multitouch trackpad.

AirDrop

Lion's new AirDrop feature allows you to share documents over a Wi-Fi connection. When you load AirDrop, you can see other customers using AirDrop and simply drop a document on top of his or her avatar to share it.

Pages

In Lion, the Pages document editor will auto-save every edit made. You can click on a "Version" viewer, which displays older versions of the document in cascaded windows. From here, you can pick the version you're happy with.

'Conversation' Mail

The upgraded Mail app in OS Lion has a “conversation" view. If you have a conversation going, the threads have often gotten difficult to follow. In Lion the conversation view shows messages stacked on top of each other so you don’t have to click on each individual thread. You just scroll down to see the back-and-forths.

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